In The Blink Of An Eye: On A Dark Night, In A Dark Alley…

“C’mon, Miss – it’s not like we ‘ave all day…”

Pratisha Westerly would have shot a withering glare over her shoulder at Detective McCabe, but it was already taking all her concentration to force the corpse to give up its secrets. Interfering with the dead went against everything she had ever been taught, went against the very Spirit of The Earth, but the message clutched in the dead body’s one remaining hand could be too important for her to show any weakness now…

“Witches don’t do that sort of thing, Detective”, muttered Pratisha, retaining her focus just long enough to snatch the scrap of paper from the corpse’s hand before the fingers curled shut again, like an animal trap. “Not true ones, at least.”

“Didn’t know there were different kinds”, said McCabe, still keeping his distance. “I mean…”

Pratisha didn’t try to correct the policeman, or try to put his mind at ease. No matter what he thought, she wasn’t here to make his life any easier – she was doing this just to make sure he, and a whole lot more people besides, had a life to continue. “Here”, she snapped, a wave of her wand carrying the piece of paper into the detective’s waiting hands. “Your evidence – and much good may it do you.”

Pratisha didn’t wait for thanks – she wasn’t expecting any. In any case, there were far more important matters on her mind – such as what she had read on the scrap of paper. At first, the message had read:

Come and find me. I have something you’re going to want to see. R.

but just as she was performing the magic to send the note to McCabe, the words had changed. For a fleeting moment, they had read:

I can see you, my dear.

There was no doubt about it. An unwelcome darkness had arrived on Earth, and Pratisha was worried.